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Source Melchizedek.0294

Approach β Hyi

Ascension 00h 25m 45.07036s

Declination –77° 15′ 15.2860″

Distance 24.33ly

Equinox J2000.0 SOL

Year 3781, QEC adjusted

[Autotranslator enabled...]

Jerome Somerset Pasani, Warrant Master

:::

Doctor Moussa Idjani led a full crew evaluation on the pods over

the last twelve hours. His recommendation for remaining awake

stands, unfortunately. The four of wardroom officers, myself,

Doctor Moussa Idjani, Prezzi Adeyemi, and Eva Hämäläinen, along

with Specialist First-class Stephanie Janssen, represent conscious

crew on the Melchizedek for next four months. We have a series of

course corrections to execute, some minor issues in hydroponics,

and what Adeyemi describes as "ick" growing over a quarter of the

cryo-pods. It is most likely unattended fungal growth, but we'll

investigate further.

Our ship is a Vos 144A from Visscher, sporting a pair of the

more-than-capable Peterse 773 Overtreffen Motoren. When launched,

the Melchy was a damn-fine ship, if I say so myself. She's held up

admirably while we slept.

We were commissioned in EY 2480, and set out on mission just three

years later. RS001 timestamps on my last transmission suggest that

just over 1300 years, relative, have transpired since we set out.

1300 years.

It's what we signed on for, of course. We all had the training and

the psy-evals to prep, but there's still that shock when it hits

you. There's no undo, no reset. Everyone we knew is long gone.

Hell, the Earth itself is long gone, at least in the way we knew

it. Adeyemi says she has a cousin who set out on a long-haul

colony support freighter at about the same time as us and their

star is only a few light-years off schedule from ours. She doesn't

remember which direction, but it's possible she's got people out

there somewhere. The math always gets away from me, but it's

possible some of my own ancestors' family could be thawing out

from craft launched before I was born. Oh, and don't even get me

started on reality-drive mechanics. Who knows how many blended

universes we've stirred up with that monstrosity. I can only hope

humanity learned their lesson and banned it while I was dreaming.

To the Speaker Elect of Cheer Systems, Susan, aboard the Starbloom

Communal Distributive Projection goes our many thanks. If the

disconnection of time weren't jarring enough, the silence that

awaits one's first lonely transmission is infinitely more terrible

for all its brevity. Your words, blessings, and spells are a salve

bringing healing. I queried Janssen about your ship designation

but nothing in our databases aligned. Based on relative time-debt

adjustments, it seems you may have set out long before us. We hope

your time has been peaceful.

I'll be setting a daily ordo and assigning work duties following

this transmission. Getting our hands busy will ground the

ineffable incongruity from reality that's rattled everyone. Our

navigation issues are of primary concern, so Hämäläinen and

Janssen will bear the brunt of that work. Doctor Idjani is the

closest crew member we have awake to a botanist, so he'll be

investigating our sensor abnormalities in food and air

circulation. No alarms were tripped, so we're hoping it's just

a mutation in one of the algae tanks or something equally trivial.

The cry-pod growth will fall to me, with possible assistance from

Adeyemi, though she has very little background to be of use.

Unless the fungus starts talking, I don't see how Adeyemi will

have much of anything to translate or negotiate. She's probably in

for a boring four months.

It's time to get moving. Our shifts will be light until muscle

regeneration reaches 60% and the doc clears us for full rotations

again. That's probably for the best. We'll take things slow.

.